Polish parliament strips opposition MP of immunity to face charges of participating in criminal group

The government’s majority in parliament has voted to strip an opposition MP, Marcin Romanowski, of immunity so he can be charged with 11 alleged crimes relating to his time as a deputy justice minister in the former Law and Justice (PiS) government. It has also consented for him to be placed in pretrial detention.

The decision follows last month’s decision to strip Michał Woś, another opposition MP and former justice minister, of immunity as part of efforts by the government that took power from PiS in December to investigate alleged corruption in the disbursement of a justice ministry fund.

However, Romanowski, like Woś, claims to be the victim of “political repression” and “unlawful actions” by the new administration.

In June, prosecutor general Adam Bodnar, who also serves as justice minister, requested that Romanowski be stripped of immunity. He said there was “a sufficiently justified suspicion” that Romanowski committed offences, including participation in an organised criminal group, having crime as a source of income, and abuse of power.

As well as seeking to bring charges against Romanowski, Bodnar also asked for him to be placed in pretrial detention due to concern that he would seek to “unlawfully obstruct proceedings”.

The accusations stem from an investigation into alleged abuses in the management of the Justice Fund, which is meant to be used to help victims of crime but which prosecutors say was used corruptly for the political and financial benefit of the former PiS-led ruling coalition and its associates.

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Two votes on Romanowski were held today. In the first, on whether to strip him of immunity from prosecution, there were 250 votes in favour and 178 against.

Those in favour came from the four groups that make up the ruling coalition – Civic Coalition (KO), The Left (Lewica), the Polish People’s Party (PSL) and Poland 2050 (Polska 2050) – as well as from most of the far-right Confederation (Konfederacja).

The second vote, on whether to permit Romanowski to be placed in pretrial detention, was won with 234 votes in favour and 196 against. In that vote, all Confederation MPs present were opposed. PiS was opposed in both votes.

How MPs from each parliamentary group voted on lifting Marcin Romanowski’s immunity (za = for, przeciw = against, wstrzymało się = abstained, nie głosowało = did not vote)

Dariusz Korneluk, who holds the position of national prosecutor, told broadcaster RMF today ahead of the votes that, if the Sejm approved both requests, prosecutors would ask a court for approval to take Romanowski into pretrial detention.

PiS, however, has argued that Korneluk holds his position illegitimately because Bodnar unlawfully removed the previous national prosecutor, Dariusz Barski, who had been appointed under PiS. Bodnar and Korneluk reject that claim, arguing that, in fact, it was Barski who had been illegitimately appointed.

Speaking in parliament yesterday, Romanowski said that Korneluk’s involvement in the case against him renders it “an illegal action and constitutes a type of political repression, to which the Sejm should not consent”.

“The prosecutor’s office’s actions in the Justice Fund case are undoubtedly carried out on political orders,” he added, quoted by news website wPolityce. “This is precisely why the prosecutor’s office was illegally taken over at the beginning of this year, to use it in a brutal political fight.”

In March this year, the homes of Romanowski and other former justice ministry officials – including Zbigniew Ziobro, who served as justice minister from 2015 to 2023 – were searched on the orders of prosecutors.

So far, 11 people have been charged in relation to the investigation into the Justice Fund, with three of them being held in pretrial detention, reports news website Wirtualna Polska. One of the latter is a priest, Michał Olszewski, who has claimed he was tortured during his detention.

Two weeks ago, Woś was stripped of his immunity to be charged over his role in using the Justice Fund to purchase Pegasus spyware, which was subsequently used against some opponents of the PiS government. Prosecutors have, however, still not filed charges against him.

Main image credit: Ministerstwo Sprawiedliwości (under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL)

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.